Up In Flames
by ScarletGoldmist
Summary: After the end of the Second Giant War, Leo snaps and blows up in the Seven's faces. No one was expecting why. Canon divergent. T for Leo angst.


**A/N: Okay, so I wrote this before BoO came out, so I guess regard it as an AU. Enjoy the angst!**

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><p>LEO WAS HAVING A BAD DAY.<p>

All he was trying to do was make a person-locating-GPS-transporting device. How hard could it be? Apparently really hard. After the first four prototypes blew up in his face (literally) he was pretty miffed. At this rate, he'd never be able to get back to Calypso.

After all, he'd promised on the river Styx. That was the only reason he was trying. There were no personal motives, of course. Nope. He did not like Calypso one tiny bit. Okay, maybe a little. Alright, a lot. Fine, maybe he loved her! So what? You got a problem with that?!

"What do you think, Festus? Is there any way I could get this to work?" The bronze figurehead was still attached to the _Argo ll_, but the ship was parked on the building pad in Bunker Nine, so they were within talking distance. Festus creaked out a reply in Morse code.

"Yeah, I didn't think so either." He went over to the small forge in the back of the bunker, where his favorite chair and worktable were. He threw down the mess of bronze plating, wires, and Gatorade (don't ask) into the indestructible trashcan on the way there. He quickly decided that he needed to do some forge work to help himself calm down.

The steady, rhythmic pounding and the force that he had to use on the hot metal could generally help him not to burn the forest and the bunker down. He gathered some bronze scraps, and arranged them in the fire of the forge.

When it was soft, he pulled out a hammer from his trusty tool-belt and started whamming it down. As he let his frustration loose, he found himself ranting, something that hadn't ever happened before.

"You'll always be a seventh wheel. That's what Nemesis said. Guess I'm doomed to fail. I'll never be able to fulfill my oath, even if I try my whole life. She'll be left there, waiting, because I promised, and no one will ever come. Sure, the war's over. Yay! Everyone's problems are solved.

"Yeah, except for mine! 'Fire users are dangerous, Leo. Every time one appears, it means big catastrophes.' Yup, that's just what I am, Nyssa. A catastrophe waiting to happen. I'm gonna be the new Fire of London." As he vented and raged, Leo realized that the sword needed cooling, and quickly picked it up and dumped it in the ready trough of cool water. Absentmindedly, he held in his bare hands, regardless of the red-hot metal.

He returned the slightly sword-shaped piece of metal to the forge, and resumed hammering. Before long, he was letting his thoughts loose again.

"Why me?! My life was already screwed up enough even before the stinking Grand Canyon! Stupid Jason and his stupid amnesia! At first I thought maybe it'll be better if my best friends aren't a couple. Maybe I'll belong more. Not a third wheel. And then they get together again!

"Then there were seven, and it got even worse. And everyone paired up: Percy and Annabeth. Jason and Piper. Even Frank and Hazel! But everyone knows that Leo'll be fine, he's just a joker. Leo the jester. Leo the repair boy. The Heroes' sidekick. Leo, who falls for every girl out of his league. Khione, Thalia, Calypso!

"A little mechanic, just there to…to cook tacos and tofu burgers, and supply breath mints, and build a ship for the Seven of the Prophecy, and, and get possessed and blow up Roman camps!

"I'm just the guy who makes everything go up in flames. Burns everything to the ground. Leo Valdez, Seventh wheel!"

He paused and to get a breath, and realized that the sword had broken into seven dagger sized and shaped pieces of metal.

**_Seven_**, went through his mind like a wildfire, and with a roar of anger, he swept the pieces into the cooling trough. He was completely on fire, and it was lucky that he was wearing his special clothes that Calypso made him…

**_Calypso_**, he thought, and collapsed in his chair a foot or so away, sobbing. He held his head in his hands, and his back was towards the door. Suddenly, intuitively, he felt eyes on him. He could see them in his head. Six pairs: Sea-green, gray, electric blue, kaleidoscope, gold, and brown. Without turning, and his voice devoid of emotion, he acknowledged their presence.

"What did you hear?"

************Some*Time*Before************

PERCY WAS HAVING A PRETTY GOOD DAY.

Until they got to the bunker, anyway. Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Hazel, and Frank and he were on their way to get Leo out for a while. In Percy's opinion, he was in there way too often. So they were all en route to Bunker Nine to collect him.

They were laughing and joking, and Percy's arm was tucked through Annabeth's. Frank's face was bright red, because Percy had just finished recounting the giant koi story for the fifth time that day. Three months after the Giant War, everything was peaceful and Percy had never been happier.

As the group neared the bunker, they heard the sounds of hammering, which was normal. They also heard the sounds of Leo's voice yelling angrily as loud as he could go. Which definitely wasn't. Percy and Jason exchanged a glance, and by unspoken agreement, the group moved silently up to the open door to the bunker, where they could hear Leo clearly. He almost wished they hadn't.

"-Maybe I'll belong more. Not a third wheel. And then they get together again!

"Then there were seven, and it got even worse. And everyone paired up: Percy and Annabeth. Jason and Piper. Even Frank and Hazel!"

The pairs in question looked at each other guiltily. They had always thought Leo was fine.

"But everyone knows that Leo'll be fine, he's just a joker. Leo the jester. Leo the repair boy. The Heroes' sidekick. Leo, who falls for every girl out of his league. Khione, Thalia, Calypso!"

Piper was dumbstruck. _Leo_ was in love with _Calypso_? But… she was the 'love expert', she should have known! Percy was just as shell shocked. _Leo_ was in love with _her_? That was just too weird... Leo continued ranting.

"A little mechanic, just there to…to cook tacos and tofu burgers, and supply breath mints, and build a ship for the Seven of the Prophecy, and, and get possessed and blow up Roman camps! I'm just the guy who makes everything go up in flames. Leo Valdez, Seventh wheel!"

They could see Leo in the shadows, completely lit on fire. He looked down at whatever he had been hammering, yelled in rage, and shoved it into the cooling trough next to the forge.

He heavily sat down in his chair, holding his head in his hands. Sobbing.

Suddenly, he froze, and they knew he had felt them. He didn't even bother to turn around as he asked one question, voice completely emotionless, and Percy realized that since they had heard his true feelings, he couldn't just put back up his joker façade, but wouldn't let them show again.

"What did you hear?"

The others slowly walked up to his chair, glancing at each other, not sure what to do.

Piper placed a hand on his shoulder gently. "Leo-"

He shot up, spinning around angrily.

"Don't Leo me! Do you have any _idea _what it feels like to be the only one out of all your friends who doesn't have someone to talk to, to be with? To be the one that has to cheer everyone up when your friends fall into Tartarus, even though you feel like curling up into a ball and dying? To be the outsider in a group of friends?

"To be told countless times, 'You're so _annoying_, Leo!' 'Go _away_, Leo!' 'Can we have some _alone _time, Leo?' 'Can't you see we're _busy_, Leo?'

"No one needs me when everything's fine and dandy, but as soon as something goes wrong it's 'Oh, the karaoke machine's broken, be our little helper and make it work, Leo!' and 'Oh, the Cyclopes have captured us, but Leo'll save us, won't you, Leo!' and …and 'Oh, look, Leo got blown out of the sky, and we finally found him! We're so happy…now you can fix the coffee machine, Leo!' Do you have any idea what it feels like for me _every day_?!"

The group was silent. Frank finally looked up. "You're saying you feel alone?"

Leo groaned in exasperation. "Ya _think?_"

Frank nodded, his eyes narrowing. "You want to get back to Calypso's Island?"

Leo stroked an imaginary beard sarcastically. "Hmmm…._maybe._"

"Then we'll help you."

Leo stared at Frank, who looked like he'd never been so determined-so _sure_- of anything else ever before.

"You'd…you'd do that? For me? You don't even like me!"

Hazel reached for his hand, and for once, Frank didn't feel or look jealous.

"We're your friends. Maybe we've ignored you before, but never again."

Jason nodded decisively. "They're right, Leo. We'll help you."

Piper smiled. "I can't wait to meet her! You're probably perfect for each other."

"Yeah, I bet they are." Percy broke in. "Calypso's so nice and awesome- Ouch! Annabeth!"

She waved her fist threateningly. "You better have a bruise by tomorrow, Seaweed Brain…"

Leo grinned, truly happy for the first time in days. They were going to find Calypso. Together. Everything was back to normal…. Except he'd never be alone again.

Epilogue

Four and a half months later, Leo was happier than he ever thought he could be. Calypso was off that island, but not for good. She wanted to turn Ogygyia into a vacation resort for demigods, complete with a machine shop for whenever Leo visited.

At the moment, he was in the forges, finishing up a project. He carefully laid the last bit of Celerial Gonze (Sah-leer-eee-uhll Gone-zz), (his name for imperial gold and celestial bronze mixed) wire into place in the superglue filled groove. He wiped a gloved hand against his forehead, to find that he was sweating buckets.

**_Oh well,_** he thought. **_It was definitely worth it. _**He heard a noise behind him and yelped, turning to face whoever was there. The rest of the Seven stood there, not unlike they had four and a half months ago, but this was completely different. He fumbled with the project behind him, shoving some old blueprints over them.

"Hey guys! Uh, what're you doing here?"

"We came to find you," Annabeth replied. "Everything okay?"

Leo smiled nervously. "Yeah! Uh, let's go outside-"

Piper narrowed her eyes. "Leo. What are you doing that you don't want us to see?"

"Probably something for his girlfriend…" Percy said in a sing-song voice.

Frank grinned. "Yeah, how is she, Leo?"

Leo blushed bright red. "She's not my girlfriend!"

Jason held up his hands. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Whatever you say, Leo."

Hazel smiled. "If it's for your girlfriend, let me have a look. I'll see if she'll like it."

Leo protested, but she slipped past him. She neatly pulled the blueprints off the project, and gasped in amazement.

"Leo…"

Percy frowned. "Apparently not for his girlfriend."

On the table there were seven short scabbards, each inlaid with gold filigree inscriptions. Belts were attached, and the daggers that rested half out of the sheaths were so high quality they looked to be made by Leo's dad himself.

Hazel picked up one particular dagger-and-sheath, which read,_ Hazel Levesque, Daughter of Pluto, Miss Metal Detector_.

Jason picked up his, inscribed _Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter, Sparky_. "When did you make these?"

"Uh, been working on them since the day I, uh, blew up. That's what I was hammering, and then it broke into seven pieces. That didn't really help with my mood, but then, I thought, maybe…and that's kinda what came out." Leo scratched his head sheepishly. "They were supposed to be our 'Anniversary of sending Gaea back to sleep' presents for tomorrow, but…"

Hazel looked up contritely. "Oh, Leo, I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault. You guys like them?"

Percy finished buckling Annabeth's on her hip (It read _Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena, Wise Girl_).

"How could we not?" The green-eyed teen asked incredulously, as he surveyed his, inscribed _Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon, Seaweed Brain_.

Piper drew hers and turned it in the light so that it flashed in the sun (reading _Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite_).

"The inlay is a mix of Celestial bronze and Imperial Gold, but the actual blades are bronze." Leo informed them. He reached over Frank, who was staring at his (_Frank Zhang, Son of Mars, Klutzy_) with something akin to awe, and picked up his own.

"Remember that day when I took a poll on the nicknames for each person? And you guys all voted against me for 'Repair Boy' instead of 'Supreme Commander'?"

Percy raised one eyebrow. "You wanted them for these-?"

"Yeah, so…" Leo held up his own sheepishly. It was inscribed _Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus, Repair Boy_. "Festus made me promise that I'd put all the right ones on, so I guess I'm stuck with Repair Boy, huh."

Piper slung her arm around him, grinning. "I would hope you'd know that you're so much more than that, Leo."

"Yeah, so can I be Supreme Boy?"

Jason shoved him good-naturedly. "I'm afraid you'll have to stick with the one already on the dagger, or else it wouldn't match."

"Speak for yourself, _Sparky_."

**COMPLETE**


End file.
